“Snyder’s partners and the NFL are getting tired of it”: The NFL has had enough of the Washington Commanders owner
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The Washington Commanders are in a rough position, not only are the team’s hopes of having a winning season in the worst division in all of the football bleak but the team also has an owner who has a history of causing problems. Daniel Snyder has faced multiple allegations over the years, ranging from asking staff members to compile lewd video clips of the team’s cheerleaders without their knowledge to unwanted sexual advances toward his employees. Snyder has been accused of ‘Ruling by Fear’. If any of his employees attempt to cause problems or reveal details of his mischief to the public, he does everything in his power to shut them down.
The most recent allegation against Snyder comes from former cheerleader and Marketing and Events Coordinator Tiffani Johnston who accused Dan Snyder of putting his hand on her thigh without her consent during dinner and later on pushing her aggressively towards his limousine as she fended off all his advances. As expected, the owner’s attorneys have denied allegations made by her and have called them, “false, and have been categorically denied by Mr. Snyder.”
NFL owners are “counting votes” to oust Dan Snyder: Jarrett Bell of USA Today
As per the recent allegations and given his history, Dan Snyder is on his final leg as the owner of the Commanders. Despite all of these being just allegations, his partners have all turned their attention toward this situation. Jarrett Bell of USA Today has said that one NFL owner went so far as to say that the group is “counting votes” when it comes to Snyder.
As per the NFL’s rules, it would take a minimum of 24 votes to just begin the process of ousting Snyder, in addition to that the owner would make the ends of the world meet in order to ensure that he retains his position of power. Despite many members of the owners club of the NFL accepting how things work in the NFL, the antitrust violation that would arise as a result of 24 or more business owners forcing another owner to sell their business is evident.
This is not new or something that has happened out of nowhere. During Super Bowl week Snyder was being investigated by attorney Beth Wilkinson who was asked by the league for a written recommendation at the conclusion of her 10-month investigation into the workplace misconduct in Washington. She advised that it would be best if Snyder was forced to sell the team.
The league also had Mary Jo White investigate more claims of misconduct against Snyder that were leveled against him by Johnston. “As one ownership-level source recently put it, the Johnston allegations could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for the league, prompting Snyder’s partners to take steps to push him out.” All of this was before the allegations of financial irregularities. One such allegation comes from a long-time employee who says that the owner kept money from his partners.
If this does turn out to be true, then he is in deep trouble. “There’s growing frustration about the Washington situation and not over one issue, but over how much smoke there is, I think everybody’s getting tired of it,” an unnamed owner told Bell. The people in the NFL ownership are tired of it, the main question is if the owners are willing to hold Snyder to a standard that could potentially be applicable to them in the future which is why he got a pass last year.
It has now gotten to a point where they are possibly not worried about protecting themselves, they have now realized that none of them have to be concerned about being held to the same standard as none of them would be involved in these many controversies. In addition to that, the financial irregularities could be the “death knell” of Daniel Snyder. If that were to happen, it would be the nail in his coffin.
Bell has also reported that owners “vehemently raised” concerns about the lack of a written report during league meetings in March. Roger Goodell and the league while directly helping Snyder was doing a favor to all of them by not setting a precedent for a regime change. However, the lack of such a precedent has haunted the league for months which has led to a Congressional investigation.
The irony here is that the release of emails that were used to take down former Raiders coach Jon Gruden triggered a delayed effort to urge the NFL and the Commanders toward more transparency. Without the Gruden hit job, Congress would have never got involved. Some think that Gruden was brought down by Snyder and that he released those emails.
There is also evidence to show that Snyder has not been serving a suspension when he is supposed to be doing but irrespective of any sort of fire or not, his time as an owner may be nearing its end, and rightly so.
Also read: “In NFL, nice guys finish SOL”: Mike Florio believes Jimmy Garoppolo needs to get serious
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Sumedh Joshi
(2235 Articles Published)